Rashun Dixon's two-run bloop single drove home Michael Choice and Jemile Weeks in the bottom of the 8th to give the 2013 Oakland A's 2011 Cactus League A's a come from behind, 5-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in Phoenix. Gio Gonzalez dominated again, keeping the Brew Crew hitless in his 3 innings of work, while striking out 5.
In the other split squad game, Josh Outman turned in an epic fail: 1.1 IP, 5 hits, 4 ER, 3BB, and 2 HR, in a 7-6 loss to the Padres. Now jump for a rant.
To the Oakland A's Marketing Department: SERIOUSLY???
For the record, I am not among those who believe there is any conspiracy afoot to intentionally suppress attendance or fan interest in Oakland. However, sometimes the marketing department is just inept enough to help me see the other side of the argument.
3 weeks ago, I began my annual search for Oakland A's pocket schedules -- which used to be found atop counters of local businesses throughout every East Bay town. Now I just phone the ticket office each spring and just ask them to mail me a few.
This year, when I called the A's ticket office, the guy who answered said he was sorry he didn't have any -- but he hoped to have them next week and I might be able to find them at local 7-11 stores.
So I dropped by a 7-11 and found that the store owner, when confronted with a combination of the words "Oakland A's," "baseball," and "pocket schedules," appeared utterly confused by what I was asking but eventually was able to confirm that whatever it was I was looking for he didn't have them at his store.
Finally, a little over a week ago I called back to the A's ticket office where the guy said, "I can get those for you," took down my name and address, and...I have received nothing.
It's that difficult for an A's fan to get a hold of a pocket schedule, so hard that two calls to the ticket office, and a trip to the supposed local supplier, turn up nothing? Unbelievable.
